Hand-truck.



E. L.v PETERSON.

HAND TRUOK. 7 APPLICATION FILED NOV. 18. 1913.

Patented Apr. 7,191

partisan sanrns PAT NT ornron EDWIN It. PETERSON, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO PRESSED STEEL TRUCK COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENN- SYLVANIA.

HAND-TRUCK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 18, 1913.

Patented Apr. "t, 1914.

Serial No. 801,629.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN L. PETERSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hand- Trucks; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

- My invention relates to wheeled trucks for use in the handling and transportation of merchandise in and about ware and storehouses, freight stations, docks, railway cars, paper mills, publishing houses, and similar places.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a truck of great strength, rigidity and durability, capable of withstanding the rough usage to which hand trucks are ordinarily subjected, and at the same time adapted for general use, but particularly well suited for handling heavy and cumbersome paper rolls by reason of its novel form of nose-piece.

Further objects and advantages will be apparent to persons skilled in the art to which the present invention relates.

With these and other objects in view the invention comprises a truck having a unitary body portion made of an integral piece of pressed steel provided with down-turned flanges along its edges imparting rigidity and strength to the structure, oppositely disposed guard-ribs upon the surface of each longitudinal side bar, integral cross bars curved downwardly to form a secure cradle for the load, and means for attaching to said one piece body portion suitable handles in such a manner that the stress does not come directly on the rivets, bolts or screws used to hold them in position.

The invention further comprises a solid malleable iron nose-piece or lifting nose secured to the advance end of the truck body, capable of being readily introduced beneath articles to be trucked, same being designed, arranged and adapted to receive, and protect from mutilation the end and edges of paper rolls in the course of transportation.

The invention, in its preferred form of construction, will be hereinafter particularly described and pointed out in the claims following.

In the accompanying drawings which form part of this application for Letters Patent, and whereon like numerals indicate corresponding parts in the several views: Figure 1 is a perspective view of the complete truck. Fig. 2 is a detail sectional view taken transversely through the truck nosepiece. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional View taken centrally through the nose-piece, and, Fig. 4 is a segregated view in perspective howing the nose-piece, one of two corresponding coupling irons, and a fragment of the truck body at one side, for the attachment of said iron.

Referring to the drawings and numerals thereon, my improved truck comprises a body portion or frame formed of an integral piece of pressed steel, consisting primarily of longitudinal side bars 1, 1, and integral channeled cross bars 2. Each of said side bars 1 has a bearing face 3, an outer depending flange 4:, an inner depending flange 5, and upon its surface a raised guard-rib 6, the latter beveled as at 7 at its advance end as shown by Fig. 4: for purposes later to appear, and gradually vanishing at its opposite end into the plane of said bearing surface 3. The channeled cross bars 2 which are formed integral with, and therefore connect, said side bars 1, 1, successively increase in depth and in cross sectional area from the handle to the nose or advance end of the truck, thereby tending to balance the truck upon its wheel centers. These cross bars 2 moreover, as shown by Fig. 1, are slightly depressed or downwardly curved upon their surfaces to constitute a cradle for the load between guard ribs 6, 6, when in service.

Formed integral with the outer and inner depending flanges 4 and 5 respectively, of each side bar 1, are further depending axle and wheel bracket-members consisting of two pairs of cars 8, in which are journaled a suitable aXle 9, while mounted upon said axle in any approved manner are the supporting wheels 10; and at their opposite ends the side bars 1 are each provided with integral straps 11, 11, formed over the truck bolted or otherwise smoothly secured coupling members 13, 13 of malleable iron, which project forwardly over the extreme ends of their respective side bars, and are beveled as at 14: to fit the correspondingly beveled ends 7 of guard ribs 6 with the upper surfaces of which they are flush. These couplings 13 are further provided with oppositively disposed downwardly extending flanges or lips 15 flanking the sides of both side bars 1 at their ends, and above the said lips they are crossed transversely by depressed seats 16, as shown by Fig. 4.

Bolted or otherwise smoothly secured in seats 16 of coupling irons 13 are the opposite ends of a lifting nose 17, also by preference of malleable iron, having a forwardly extending uprising pilot blade arranged at an angle to the plane of bearing surfaces 3, crossed transversely upon its under surface by a strengthening rib 18, and merging at its curved base 19 into a downwardly curved saddle 20 which crosses the structure from side'to side as shown by Figs. 1, 2 and 4:. The horizontal end portions of said saddle member 20 are finally flanged downwardly as at 21 thereby insuring a smooth flush joint not only with the surface of coupling irons 13 but with their sides as well above the flanges or lips 15.

Adjacent to the inner ends of handles 12, 12, suitable supporting legs 22, 22 are provided, same being illustrated in the present drawings, as of ordinary merchant iron bent into substantially W shape, secured in place by rivets, and strengthened by forwardly extending braces 23.

This being a description of my invention in its preferred form of construction it will be understood that I do not limit myself to the particular form and arrangement of parts herein shown and described, nor to any particular material or materials employed, but, on the contrary, herein lay claim to all such changes and modifications as fall within the spirit of this invention and scope of the claims following.

In its operation the truck hereinbefore described is capable of general use with all classes of merchandise, but as before stated, is particularly well adapted for handling newspaper stock in large and heavy rolls as it comes from the paper mills, and in this use, for example, its operation will now be briefly set forth. Serious losses have heretofore been sustained by paper manufacturers, shippers and users of newspaper stock because of the mutilation of such rolls through the employment of ordinary trucks. That is to say, when handled upon ordinary trucks the ends of such heavy rolls often become indented or actually out upon sharp edges of the truck itself, upon protruding bolts or rivet heads, orby contact with some injurious object through openings in the lifting-hose which is not ordinarily of solid or imperforate construction. As a consequence of such end mutilation the entire width of paper must obviously then be unrolled to a depth greater than that of the mutilation or out before a perfect sheet can be obtained, thereby entailing a loss of the stock more or less serious according to the depth of a single out upon the end of the roll at one edge. To overcome these difficulties and eliminate this element of risk the present solid nose-piece or lifting nose was invented and designed. Obviously when the smooth pilot blade 17 is introduced beneath the end of a paper roll, particularly when in a vertical position, and when such roll is forced back upon the curved cross bars 2 of the truck body, its lowermost end smoothly glides down the curved unbroken surface of said blade 17 until gently arrested by the downwardly curved seat or saddle member 20 where it is cradled and fully protected from injury. When thus positioned upon the curved surfaces of saddle 20 and cross bars 2, it will be noted that the load is prevented from rolling and accidental dislodgment by engagement of the continuous guard-ribs 6, 6 at each side thereof, but. at

either horizontally over one guard-rib 6, or

.upon end over the lifting nose 17 as'conditions may require.

Having thus described my invention, what I now claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: Y

1. In a hand truck the combination with a truck body, of a lifting nose provided with a pilot blade merging into a saddle downwardly curved in a transverse direction across the truck body.

2. In a hand truck the combination with a truck body, of an imperforate lifting nose provided with a pilot blade merging into a saddle downwardly curved in a transverse direction across the truck body.

3. In a hand truck the combination with a truck body, of a lifting nose provided with a pilot blade merging into a saddle downwardly curved in a transverse direction across the truck body, and cross bars also downwardly curved connecting opposite sides of the truck. Y 7 r 4. In a hand truck the combination with a truck body. having raised guard-ribs upon the bearing surfaces of its side bars, of coupling irons secured to said side bars in alinement with their respective guide-ribs, and a lifting nose provided with a pilot blade merging into a downwardly curved saddle extending transversely across the truck and secured at opposite ends to the coupling irons aforesaid.

5. In a hand truck the combination with a unitary truck body, of forwardly projecting coupling irons secured to opposite sides of said body, a depressed seat in the surface In testimony whereof I afiix my signaof each coupling iron, and a lifting nose ture, in presence of two subscrlloing witprovided with a pilot blade merging into a nesses.

downwardly curved saddle which crosses the EDWIN L. PETERSON. 5 truck transversely and is secured at opposite Witnesses:

ends in the depressed seats of the coupling CLARENCE V. WATKINS,

irons aforesaid. PERCY B. SMITH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

